Sheffield Wednesdy (H) League 1 Saturday 23/4/11.

[boringteacher]

They were there for the taking and, ultimately, we weren't good enough. Some of the delivery in open play and from set pieces was very poor. Laird very poor, lightweight and contributed nothing going forward. Think that's it now.

Re the crowd. If there were 6300 in there, roughly 50% of capacity, how would we get the same amount in again? Way undercalled IMHO.

Must have watched a different match to me, cos he was streets ahead of the rest of our midfield. I agree though, there for the taking is an understatement.

with you mate. Compared to the mule on the right and the disinterested slaphead in the center, he was quality (or at least competent). Richards really peed me off today - he's better than that, even if knackered. I hope he has a similar mindset next season for which ever 3rd division team he's already agreed a contract with. When he inevitably gets dumped by his current premier team, I'd be happy if we picked Laird up. As to Jules, he wasn't bad and our only (apart from the outstanding Macken) threat.

[Magic Man Fan]

They were there for the taking and, ultimately, we weren't good enough. Some of the delivery in open play and from set pieces was very poor. Laird very poor, lightweight and contributed nothing going forward. Think that's it now.

Re the crowd. If there were 6300 in there, roughly 50% of capacity, how would we get the same amount in again? Way undercalled IMHO.

Must have watched a different match to me, cos he was streets ahead of the rest of our midfield. I agree though, there for the taking is an understatement.

with you mate. Compared to the mule on the right and the disinterested slaphead in the center, he was quality (or at least competent). Richards really peed me off today - he's better than that, even if knackered. I hope he has a similar mindset next season for which ever 3rd division team he's already agreed a contract with. When he inevitably gets dumped by his current premier team, I'd be happy if we picked Laird up. As to Jules, he wasn't bad and our only (apart from the outstanding Macken) threat.

Not bitter too much are you? Richards has been consistently our best player for most of the season, without him we'd already be down, FACT. He's been poor last few games but playing every single game (unlike any other player) has caught up with him. He looks knackered.

Never mind a bit of thought when its easier just to slate someone though. :roll:

[We-ARE-Walsall]

I don't think you meant me, but I wasn't having a go at Richards. He was poor today, although the few times he did actually do anything today, something came from it. Best move of the match was when he made a really good run through the middle, and it ended up with Macken getting a decent half chance. His overall play today wasn't great though, very sloppy, and poor set peices too.

He has had a good season though has Richards, I don't see why he is the scapegoat, there are so many others that could be used, such as Gray, who spent 2/3 of the season going through the motions.

[addo]

I thought Laird had probably his best game for Walsall today, and was miles better than anyone else in our midfield.

Agree entirely, I thought he was MOTM (just ahead of Macken).

I am with that one too .
I had Laird down as MoM.

What is it with Taundry ?
It's just not even funny now.
The kid just makes wrong decision after wrong decision.

[Magic Man Fan]

I thought Laird had probably his best game for Walsall today, and was miles better than anyone else in our midfield.

Agree entirely, I thought he was MOTM (just ahead of Macken).

I am with that one too .
I had Laird down as MoM.

What is it with Taundry ?
It's just not even funny now.
The kid just makes wrong decision after wrong decision.

He tries to be clever. He's not good enough to be clever. He's not good enough to play it simple.

[Bristol Fan]

He tries to be clever. He's not good enough to be clever. He's not good enough to play it simple.

Indeed. It's a shame. If you put his attitude into some of our other players then we'd be safe already but sadly for him (and, more pertinently, for Walsall FC) he's nowhere near being good enough to play league football. It verges on embarrassing when he has those periods of running as fast as he can towards wherever the ball happens to be (periods which have been known to last for 90 minutes plus stoppage time).

[bangsection]

We're desperately short of quality aren't we? As someone else said, unless Macken or Gray produce something we're painfully uncreative. It's this, combined with our inability to defend set pieces, that makes me worry about our ability to beat the drop. That and the fact that the entire right flank of our team
Is out of its depth at this level. Four points from the next two games MIGHT be enough but it's going to be awfully tight.

Maybe if we boycotted the Oldham game it might be enough to send them into administration...

[Magic Man Fan]

We're desperately short of quality aren't we? As someone else said, unless Macken or Gray produce something we're painfully uncreative. It's this, combined with our inability to defend set pieces, that makes me worry about our ability to beat the drop. That and the fact that the entire right flank of our team
Is out of its depth at this level. Four points from the next two games MIGHT be enough but it's going to be awfully tight.

Maybe if we boycotted the Oldham game it might be enough to send them into administration...

:D Clutching at straws.

If Gray, Richards and Macken aren't at their best, we're shagged. That's been the case all season.

[belgiansaddler]

I think the we should boycott Oldham suggestion is probably a given anyway, we need a massive following there but can't see us getting one. I also thought Laird played well today, easily the best midfielder we had, though that's not saying much. Richards has been one of our most consistent players but was poor today apart from a couple of moves he was involved in. I really wish Taundry was good cos his heart is obviously in the right place. The short corner from Richards to Taundry today though summed it up, though why Richards took a short corner to someone he knows can't cross is another question. We need Gray, Macken, Richards or Cook to conjure something up on Monday. Cook looks lively at times but from what I have seen of him I can't see him cutting it at Prem level. To be fair him and Macken were feeding off scraps all match but for someone who is apparently so highly rated I expected more than what Cook has shown me so far. Hopefully he will rip them to pieces on Monday and I will be happy to make a grovelling apology :D

[aaaae]

When I heard that Westlake and Taundry were playing together I wondered how many goals we were going to concede from the right. And sure enough the cross that lead to their goal came because Taundry was left to mark two men. What would I give for an unsung solid full back like Wayne Evans at the moment, not just for his defending but for the ability to organise in front of him.

As good as Richard may have been earlier in the season, the amount of times he is giving the ball away and getting caught in possession is costing us dear. I just can't believe it is because he is tired. He's only 26 and they had a 15 day break before the Plymouth game and a 7 day break before this game. If he can't cope with that level of intensity he might as well give up football now.

[boringteacher]

I don't think you meant me, but I wasn't having a go at Richards. He was poor today, although the few times he did actually do anything today, something came from it. Best move of the match was when he made a really good run through the middle, and it ended up with Macken getting a decent half chance. His overall play today wasn't great though, very sloppy, and poor set peices too.

He has had a good season though has Richards, I don't see why he is the scapegoat, there are so many others that could be used, such as Gray, who spent 2/3 of the season going through the motions.

I'm sure it wasn't aimed at you as well. Richards has been our best player this season (Macken took 3 months to get fit, Butler/wacka have been with us for only half the year). However, when it matters he has been consistently crap - Gbarssin should be starting ahead of him based on current form. If you take the charitable view that Richard's recent appalling performances are due to tiredness, he aint going to get any better in the run-in. Unless we go 451, I'd start him off the bench on Monday.

[latviancheese]

Lookin at the goals on the box last night, Wednesdays goal was pathetic defending, from my angle i couldnt see we just watched him shoot with that much space :shock:

Still a weak save by Walker for me though, but he made some good saves second half.

[chestersaddler]

Lookin at the goals on the box last night, Wednesdays goal was pathetic defending, from my angle i couldnt see we just watched him shoot with that much space :shock:

Still a weak save by Walker for me though, but he made some good saves second half.

I thought that the initial shot took a slight deflection. In any event, had Taundry not misjudged the bounce of the ball on the right hand side there would have been no shot to save.

[We-ARE-Walsall]

I don't think you meant me, but I wasn't having a go at Richards. He was poor today, although the few times he did actually do anything today, something came from it. Best move of the match was when he made a really good run through the middle, and it ended up with Macken getting a decent half chance. His overall play today wasn't great though, very sloppy, and poor set peices too.

He has had a good season though has Richards, I don't see why he is the scapegoat, there are so many others that could be used, such as Gray, who spent 2/3 of the season going through the motions.

I'm sure it wasn't aimed at you as well. Richards has been our best player this season (Macken took 3 months to get fit, Butler/wacka have been with us for only half the year). However, when it matters he has been consistently crud - Gbarssin should be starting ahead of him based on current form. If you take the charitable view that Richard's recent appalling performances are due to tiredness, he aint going to get any better in the run-in. Unless we go 451, I'd start him off the bench on Monday.

I have been impressed with Macken of late, but I don't buy it took him 3 months to get fit. He was another one going through the motions for the best part of the season. Fair enough, we had a tool of a manager, but he is a proffesional, his attitude has changed, and his performance have shown that.

The thing with having a player like Macken is, he is excellent at holding up the ball, and bringing others in to play. When you have a player like this, you need players from midfield joining the attack, and getting past the forwards. We have no one like this, Richards did it once yesterday, and it was the best move of the match. I like Gbarssin, but he is a limited footballer , that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve a place in the team, cos he does a job well. We still need that player from the middle of the pitch who gets in to the box, and I don't honestly see who that is.

It's a little late to be worrying about it now really, 3 games to go, we have what we have, and on yesterdays performance, we are going to fall just short of what we need to stay up.

[latviancheese]

It could also be to do with the way we play, Macken is now the starting point for most attacks.

[We-ARE-Walsall]

It could also be to do with the way we play, Macken is now the starting point for most attacks.

That's because he is the only one with any real quality.

[Magic Man Fan]

It's far to easy to criticise the bloke who has done more than most to keep us up, when the vast majority of others didn't give a stuff.

No-one has considered he might be struggling from a minor injury.

He's been poor in recent weeks, but the fact everyone has noticed the difference should say a lot.

[aaaae]

It's far to easy to criticise the bloke who has done more than most to keep us up, when the vast majority of others didn't give a stuff.

No-one has considered he might be struggling from a minor injury.

He's been poor in recent weeks, but the fact everyone has noticed the difference should say a lot.

Every player, no matter how good, will have a dip in form at some point in the season for whatever reason. That's the point where a good squad will have a player waiting in the wings desperate for a chance to play. Unfortunately our squad is so threadbare we just don't have any quality in depth. Same at right back. As well as thinking how we could do with a Wayne Evans yesterday, I was also thinking how much we could do with a Dean Keates.

£400k a year would easily cover the wage of those two and leave you plenty of change :wink: :D

[We-ARE-Walsall]

It's far to easy to criticise the bloke who has done more than most to keep us up, when the vast majority of others didn't give a stuff.

No-one has considered he might be struggling from a minor injury.

He's been poor in recent weeks, but the fact everyone has noticed the difference should say a lot.

Every player, no matter how good, will have a dip in form at some point in the season for whatever reason. That's the point where a good squad will have a player waiting in the wings desperate for a chance to play. Unfortunately our squad is so threadbare we just don't have any quality in depth. Same at right back. As well as thinking how we could do with a Wayne Evans yesterday, I was also thinking how much we could do with a Dean Keates.

£400k a year would easily cover the wage of those two and leave you plenty of change :wink: :D

Quite funny, cos when he was here, there was a large section that thought he was a headless chicken. I don't know how good he is now, but how we could do with someone like him right now. He had all the effort of Richard Taundry, but also some quality (at our level) to go with it.

[Deano_Saddler]

I can't understand why Smith decided to take Westlake off and put Taundry at right back when it was so clear that Taundry was struggling all game where as Westlake made a few great tackles earlier on. Butler and Lancashire were both absolutely superb, if we stay up then i see no need to change those two because they are very capable in this league especially together. Williams is impressing me more and more so i think he is also worth another year. I can't understannd for the life of me why some people see something in Laird because for me he is barely ever in the game. Richards like others have said just isn't the same player as before but for what he did for us when Hutchings was here it's very hard to criticise him especially when the other players seemed to not give a toss. Macken is also one that we definitely need to try and get a hold of next season because he was easily our best player again yesterday.

[latviancheese]

Westlake was one mistimed tackle away from a three match ban.

[King Crimson]

Westlake was one mistimed tackle away from a three match ban.

True. Taundry's a much safer bet in this regard. He doesn't get close enough to commit a foul.

[Deano_Saddler]

Westlake was one mistimed tackle away from a three match ban.

That's a fair point but if it was my decision i would have taken the risk and got taundry off to be honest. And i dont believe smith took westlake off because of the reason you mentioned, i think he did because he genuinely prefers taundry, if you consider that taundry has been pretty poor for quite a while now you would have thought he would have been dropped by now but hasn't so smith must favour him to other players which is why i was so baffled.

[Magic Man Fan]

Westlake was having another mare like he did at Plymouth which is why Taundry had come back into the side in the first place. It didn't matter whether he or Taundry was taken off.

As Smith was going for the win and Taundry is more likely to get forward, it was probably the right decision.

[bangsection]

Quite funny, cos when he was here, there was a large section that thought he was a headless chicken. I don't know how good he is now, but how we could do with someone like him right now. He had all the effort of Richard Taundry, but also some quality (at our level) to go with it.

Keates scored the winner for Wrexham yesterday, cementing their place in the playoffs but, interestingly, the BlueSq Premier have today stated that they will be barred from taking part if they don't settle a £200,000 bill with HMRC.

Wish that the Football League would take a similar stance with clubs in our division. I wonder how far behind on their tax bill Oldham are, for instance.

[latviancheese]

Westlake was one mistimed tackle away from a three match ban.

That's a fair point but if it was my decision i would have taken the risk and got taundry off to be honest. And i dont believe smith took westlake off because of the reason you mentioned, i think he did because he genuinely prefers taundry, if you consider that taundry has been pretty poor for quite a while now you would have thought he would have been dropped by now but hasn't so smith must favour him to other players which is why i was so baffled.

I think he much prefers Lescott.

Taundry is just utter gash at the back. The good tackles he made on saturday where after a chase, wether forward or backwards. Ive seen 10 year olds defend better than him, he doesnt stay goalside, infact he's never usually anywhere near an opposition player. He stands in between players so they pass it around him. I still really want him to be good though :lol:, he's also poor in the air. He still has a fairl useful right foot, and the only other option was Nicholls, who incidently was bollocks again.

However, i still think he has a job to do, and id still put him in my side ahead of the likes of Byfield every time. Im not sure why i follow Byfield on Twitter, im glad i do because it confirms to me what a tool the bloke really is. Id release him now for a laugh.